ICEDRSpecialReport-TakingCharge_000

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Taking Charge EXPLORE “The way to define success is to know yourself. It’s important to know: what do you want out of life? Do you want a short-term career and then a family? Do you want a long career and no family? Do you want a job that’s really balanced? I have a sister who is almost ten years younger and my advice to her doesn’t land because she doesn’t want my life. She wants a very different life. I do feel like sometimes women get trapped because we are not all cut from the same cloth.” Adele Gulfo, Regional President, Latin America, Emerging Markets Business Unit, Pfizer 6
Taking Charge EXPLORE 7 Explore Being a senior executive is a challenging career and you have to know that it is the right path for you. Adele Gulfo at Pfi zer is clear on this point: it’s important to know yourself. The women executives we interviewed have taken the time to EXPLORE who they are. They have a deep sense of their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. They know which company cultures are a good fi t for them. They have developed an authentic leadership style, and have crafted a personal defi nition of success. Their careers are often full of twists and turns, and they have faced many challenges. Yet the women we interviewed were happy with their career choices. Why? The answer is that they take the time to EXPLORE what they want out of work and life. EXPLORE: Your Strengths, Weaknesses, Likes and Dislikes Tracey Edwards is Deloitte’s Chief Knowledge Offi cer. In her role, she puts in place enterprise-wide practices, policies and technologies so that Deloitte can operate as seamlessly as possible as a global enterprise. There’s one piece of knowledge Tracey believes is critical: selfknowledge. It’s essential to know yourself inside and out, to hold a mirror up and refl ect on what you see with a critical eye. Exceptional leaders know their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. They understand where they excel, where Tracey Edwards Deloitte they need improvement, what gives them energy and what they don’t like to do. So, how can you start to know yourself? Tracey encourages the people on her team to map their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes in a 2X2 matrix (see Table 1). This 2x2 matrix should then be discussed with the person that you most depend upon for career advancement. She advises “women to own the 2X2 matrix and to have frank and candid conversations about it. You have to be willing to own your career at that level and do that exploration. This exercise is going to tell you: what do I want to be doing?” She emphasizes that it is important to put the job description aside and decide what you like to do and know what you are really good at. Many of the women we interviewed noted the importance of playing to your strengths. Susan Silbermann, President & General Manager, Vaccines at Pfi zer explains: “At Pfi zer, we’re focusing on what strong skills colleagues possess and not trying to focus on what they don’t. There was a point in time where schools would force left-handed students to write with their right hand. Now, we embrace the view: ‘You’re left-handed. That is great. I want you to be the best left-handed person you can be.’” This view is typical of our successful executives, who believe that focusing on your strengths and likes leads to a signifi cant benefi t: expertise. Developing expertise early on in your career is particularly important, as Beatrice Fischer, Managing Director, Head CEO Stakeholder Management, Private Banking at Credit Suisse recalls: “Early on, my manager gave me good advice: make sure that you are good at one particular thing. You should be really special at this one thing. Then, you will always be the go to person for this. If you can establish yourself as an expert in something, this is a good start. People will listen because they know you are really good at something.” Table 1: Map It! Your Strengths, Weaknesses, Likes and Dislikes Likes Dislikes Weaknesses Strengths PLAY HERE
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Page 4 and 5: Taking Charge OVERVIEW 4 Overview A
Page 8 and 9: EXPLORE: Your Style As a woman lead
Page 10 and 11: Taking the time to reflect on what
Page 12 and 13: Surprisingly, these women leaders f
Page 14 and 15: Taking Charge “If I look back and
Page 16 and 17: Having Conversations with Your Kids
Page 18 and 19: The Rise of the House Husband “Th
Page 20 and 21: When it comes to priorities, recogn
Page 22 and 23: 3. Have a point of view and a solut
Page 24 and 25: Apply! Many women observed a common
Page 26 and 27: Forum, she continues to facilitate
Page 28 and 29: Taking Charge “If you’re not on
Page 30 and 31: Taking Charge REPAY “I measure my
Page 32 and 33: the values I was built with and bor
Page 34 and 35: Taking Charge REPAY 34 a mom who ha
Page 36 and 37: Audit: Take Charge! Explore Own Rep
Page 38 and 39: Acknowledgements We would like to t
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